Looking at Life With New Eyes
by J. Ruth Gendler

The more I study and imagine how people and animals see the world and process what they see, the less certain I am about what the words visible and invisible, realistic and abstract, beautiful and ugly mean. What's abstract and what's realistic depends on the kind of lens you are looking through. The pattern of stars looks like an electron map. A physicist photographs flawed crystals under the microscope, and with their crisp, geometric shapes and bright colors, they look like contemporary abstract paintings. It is the flawed crystals that have the beautiful forms.
What is invisible, whether it's the ultraviolet patterns on white flowers as vivid as launching pads to bees or the heat of the infrared that snakes see, may simply be something that our eyes are not structured to see.

Through attention and study, empathy and imagination, we appreciate how partial our seeing is, how many other ways there are to see, how much beauty we see, and how much beauty we don't see. Taking a walk with different people offers a vivid reminder that by training and affinity we have very different eyes. The prairie eye and the forest eye, yes, but also the cat lover's eye, the cloud lover's eye, the eye that notices doors and windows, the oak and alder eye, the suspicious eye, the generous eye.


My eye changes according to what is on my mind. Walking around my neighborhood on an early Sunday morning while I'm anticipating taking down an awkward fence that breaks up my backyard, I see all kinds of fences - short wooden fences that mark a line but don't block the view, modern chain-link fences opposite beautifully weathered gray-brown fences, tired old falling-down fences next to young, cheerful fences, rough logs on the same street with sharp white pickets.




I didn't realize that fences could be so eloquent, awkward, charming, beautiful. I see how the same fence is repeated around the neighborhood to such different effects, left bare, painted red, painted green, white, or weathered. I see the way people's fences do or don't look like their houses, and then I watch the people come out of their houses, the way their houses do or do not resemble them. During the walks I take after my fence is down, I've stopped looking at fences. I'm focusing on studying the shadows of flowers and trees, the play between rocks and grasses. And then at different ways to construct a stone path.

To practice seeing more carefully is a wonderful assignment. To attempt to see more purely, to practice seeing out of one's own eyes. Alternate close observation and big imagining. Take a walk, and immediately afterward record ten images in words, in energetic sketches. Take a walk and imagine what someone else looks at, how someone else sees, what a cat notices, what a hawk focuses on, what a tree standing still in the same place knows.

The eyes feed the mind. Sometimes we try so hard to change our minds, to not think certain thoughts. One of the most overlooked ways to change one's mind is to attend to what one looks at, to practice feeding one's eyes. To change your mind, to interrupt anxiety or to practice gratitude or notice more beauty, pay attention to what you are literally looking at. Is it feeding the part of you that wants to be fed?

See where you are, not so much to locate yourself emotionally but physically. What are you looking at? Observe yourself in your surroundings. See who you are in this place. Do you want to keep your eyes here and change how you are using them? Look up, look out, look away. Look ahead, look into, look back. Do you want to go somewhere else and see something different?
Look at what you are looking at and see where you are. See who you are, see what you are a part of, not just to identify yourself, but to look at the world outside yourself and feel the exchange between your small self and this immense, astonishing world.

The above is an excerpt from the book Notes on the Need for Beauty by J. Ruth Gendler, Published by Marlowe & Company; May 2007,Her website can be found at www.ruthgendler.com

You Begin
~ Margaret Atwood


You begin this way:
this is your hand,
this is your eye,
this is a fish, blue and flat
on the paper, almost
the shape of an eye
This is your mouth, this is an O
or a moon, whichever
you like. This is yellow.

Outside the window
is the rain, green
because it is summer, and beyond that
the trees and then the world,
which is round and has only
the colors of these nine crayons.

This is the world, which is fuller
and more difficult to learn than I have said.
You are right to smudge it that way
with the red and then
the orange: the world burns.





Once you have learned these words
you will learn that there are more
words than you can ever learn.
The word hand floats above your hand
like a small cloud over a lake.
The word hand anchors
your hand to this table
your hand is a warm stone
I hold between two words.

This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world,
which is round but not flat and has more colors
than we can see.
It begins, it has an end,
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.

Hibang
Bernard Umali

Kahit saan sigurong panahon, kahit sa malayong nakaraan,
gagawa ako ng balsa at hindi matatakot
papalaot ako’t aalamin ang hangganan ng karagatan
lamunin man ako ng dagat
mahulog sa dulo nito
titiyakin kong masasaksihan ko
mahahagkan ang anumang nakaamba’t nakasalo

at kung naroon ang bahaghari
sasampa ako’t yayakapin ang mga kulay
bibitbitin at ihahasik sa mukha ng daigdig
nang kuminang ang lupa, ang mga halama’t bulaklak
lalaganap ang ngiti, ang lupa’t langit ay sisigla
walang kwadrong paglalagyan ng gayong tanawin
ni hindi magkakasya sa mata ang walang hanggang kagandahan

sasalok ako ng hamog at ibubuhos ang bango ng umaga
huhugasan nito ang bawat nilalang
lilinisin ang kaloobang may batik o mantsa
walang kalungkutan, pangamba, pangungulila o kawalang katiyakan
papawiin nito ang uhaw; sa pagkalinga, sa katotohanan at sa pag-ibig
babasbasan nito ang mga kaluluwa’t ibabalik ang dati nyang samyo
dadaloy muli ang buhay, titining at magiging dalisay

sisisirin ko ang kalaliman ng aking isip
bubungkusin ang tagni-tagning ideya
hangga’t kaya pa nitong bigyang kahulugan ang buhay
bungkalin ang misteryo at gawan ng kwento
habang nakakikilala pa ng mga salita, anyo at kulay
palalayain ang kamalayan at aahon sa sisidlan
ng aking hangganan, ng aking katawan

sasabay ako sa pag-ikot ng daigdig
ang kanyang pisngi ang aking entablado
iindayog sa kanyang galaw, sa saliw ng kanyang indak
sasayaw ako kasabay ng buwan, araw at mga bitwin
malayang-malaya, magaan na magaang umiindayog
habang nakalutang at nakasaliw sa musika ng kalawakan
ang tibok nitong puso’y makikibahagi sa orkestra ng daigdig

sa itaas ay mga talang kumukurap
mga kulay na naglalaro
sumasabay sa ritmo
at sa dulo’y magliliwanag
dala ng mga nagliliyab na tala
at mga kometang nagdaraan
upang ipagdiwang ang huling sayaw

at matutulog ako ng mahimbing
mananaginip habang dinuduyan ng hangin
ilalapat ang ulo sa malambot na ulap
makikiliti sa panaka-nakang patak ng ulan
sa huli’y muling makakapiling ang pamilya
nang maihatid sa kanlungan ng inang buwan at amang araw
tahanan.

If you ride the trains of LRT you'll notice the "Berso sa Metro" posters. Showcases poetry in Spanish and translated in Tagalog. The first time I saw it took me away. And I always look forward to reading those sweet, smooth, sentimental poems . The poems never fails to put a smile on my face (tee-hee). Lope De Vega, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Jose Palma and Pablo Neruda are a few of my favorites. Medyo nosebleed lang tlga pag binanasa ko na ang spanish version. lol.
Kudos to INSTITUTO CERVANTES!




Varios Efectos Del Amor
( Various Effects of Love )
Lope De Vega 1562-1635

Tagalog
Nanghihina, mapangahas, nanggagalaiti,
bastos, malambing, mapagbigay, mailap,
matatag ang loob, mortal, patay, buhay,
matapat, traydor, duwag at masigla;
Nababalisa sa gitna ng kapayapaan,
mukhang masaya, malungkot, mapagpakumbaba, mapagmataas,
nagagalit, matapang, umiiwas
kuntento, nasasaktan, mapaghinala;
bulag sa katotohanan,
ang lason sa kanya’y matamis na alak,
’Di pansin ang kasaganahan, natutuwa kapag nasasaktan;
Nasa impiyerno na’y para pa ring nasa langit,
iaalay ang kaluluwa’t buhay kahit nililinlang:
iyan ang pag-ibig: sinumang nakaranas, iya’y alam.


Spanish
Desmayarse, atreverse, estar furioso,
áspero, tierno, liberal, esquivo,
alentado, mortal, difunto, vivo,
leal, traidor, cobarde y animoso,

no hallar fuera del bien centro y reposo,
mostrarse alegre, triste, humilde, altivo,
enojado, valiente, fugitivo,
satisfecho, ofendido, receloso.

Huir el rostro al claro desengaño,
beber veneno por licor suave,
olvidar el provecho, amar el daño;

creer que el cielo en un infierno cabe;
dar la vida y el alma a un desengaño:
¡esto es amor! quien lo probó lo sabe.


English
To be fainthearted, to be bold, to be raging mad,
surly, tender, generous, aloof,
loyal, treacherous, cowardly, spirited.

Not to find, beyond your lover, satisfaction or peace.
To look happy, sad, humble, arrogant,
irate, valiant, self-effacing,
satisfied, offended, distrustful.

To turn your face from clear proofs of deceit,
to drink poison as if it were a soothing liquor,
to disregard gain and delight in being injured.

To believe that heaven can lie contained in hell ;
to devote your life and soul to being disillusioned ;
this is love ; whoever has tasted it, knows.

Tu Justificas Mi Existencia
(You Justify My Existence)
Luis Cernuda (1902-1963)


Tagalog
Ikaw ang dahilan kung bakit ako naririto.
Kung hindi kita nakilala, hindi ako mabubuhay;
Kung mamatay man ako na hindi kita nakilala,
Hindi ako mamamatay, dahil hindi naman ako nabuhay.


Spanish
Tu justificas mi existencia.
Si no te conozco, no he vivido;
Si muero sin conocerte,
no muero, porque no he vivido.


English
You are the reason why I'm here,
If I haven't known you, I won't live;
If I die without having known you
I won't have died, because I have never lived at all .




De mi jardin
(From My Garden)
Jose Palma 1876-1908


Tagalog
Humingi ka ng mga sampaguita... Di kita bibigyan
Dahil ng puputulin ko na sa mga sanga'y
Nanginig ang aking kamay at ang dibdib ko'y nanikip dahil sa awa
Ayokong magdusa ang mga bulaklak na yan,
gaya ng pagdurusa ng puso kong malayo sa iyo
ayokong sa sandaling hawakan ng aking kamay
iya'y malanta at mamamatay.


Spanish
Me pide sampaguitas, no te envio
Porque al ir a cortarlas de la rama,
Senti temblar mis manos y mi pecho
prensado por la lastima.

No quiero que padezcan esas flores,
Como padece, lejos de ti, mi alma;
No quiero que al contacto de mis manos,
perezcan marachitadas.


English
You asked for a sampaguita flower... I will not give you
Because when I tried to cut them from their stem
My hands trembled and my heart bled in anguish
I do not want these flowers to agonize
like my heart agonizes when drawn away from you
I don't want my hand, the moment it holds
These flowers will start to wither and die.





La Vida es Sueno
(Life is a Dream)
Pedro Calderon Dela Barca (Madrid 1800 - 1851)


Tagalog
Ano nga ba ang buhay? Isang Kahibangan?
Ano nga ba ang buhay? Isang Illusyon?
Isang Anino
, isang kasinungalingan?
At ang malalaking biyaya'y maliliit pa rin
Dahil ang buhay ay isa lamang pangarap
At ang mga pangarap ay pangarap lamang.


Spanish
¿ Qué es la vida?
Un frenesí.
¿ Qué es la vida?
Una ilusión,una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño: que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.


English
What is life? An insanity?
What is life? An illusion?
A shadow, a lie?
And life's biggest blessings still seemed small
Because life is only a dream
And dreams will always remain to be dreams.

And now you're mine, Rest with your dream in my dream.
Love and pain and work should all sleep, now.
The night turns on its invisible wheels,
and you are pure beside me as a sleeping amber.

No one else, Love will sleep in my dreams. You will go,
we will go together, over the waters of time.
No one else will travel through the shadow with me,
only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon.

Your hands have already opened their delicate fists
and let their soft drifting signs drop away; your eyes closed like two gray
wings, and I move

after, following the folding water you carry, that carries
me away. The night, the world, the wind spin out their destiny.
Without you, I am your dream, only that, and that is all.



Pablo Neruda
Poet